Anara tower in Dubai

 

What is that thing in the middle at the top of the proposed Anara tower in Dubai? In most of the renderings it looks like a wind turbine integrated into the building, but when you look closely (image below) you can see that the hub is inhabited and that it is supported by the three blades. So now architects don't even bother with the real thing, they just borrow the imagery and put fake turbine-like things on the top of their buildings because they look cool.

Preston at Jetson Green tells us that

With 125 stories, Anara will have office space, 300 residential apartments, 250 hotel keys, and all sorts of other luxury amenities, such as pools, shops, and sky gardens every 27 floors. The design was inspired by the minaret, tall spires near Muslim mosques, with a purpose of being instantly recognizable worldwide.

The developers are aiming for LEED silver certification. However it may never get off the draughting boards; evidently the real estate market in Dubai has crashed. one site looking at international investment writes:

Real Estate agents in Dubai who have been working in the real estate sector for the past few years are telling us that no-one is buying property in Dubai anymore. one of the larger companies with 30+ agents just sold 4 properties last month !!! Expect many of the real estate companies in Dubai to run away as the market crashes.

Perhaps architects and Dubai developers will use the time-out to get it right. Royal Institute of British Architects former president George Ferguson said about Dubai architecture to BD online:

“It’s a disaster area if all [architects] do is add eco-bling to their buildings instead of dealing with the fundamentals.

“It’s a transport nightmare, it’s an energy nightmare. It is absolutely bloody terrifying. "